External Hard drive issues

Hi everyone.
i've just moved over to mac and love it. the only issue i have is with my external hard drives.
I have 2 external HD's and i haven't got a clue how to get my mac to find them or see them. They both use USB connections, one is externally powered and the other one isn't.
How can I get the items off them and onto my mac?
I really can't afford to lose anything on them.

I should also point out that the external HD's are from my PC days.
Keith

Are they formatted NTFS? If so, read this.

Also, with the Finder active got to the Finder Menu and choose Preferences. Click the General tab and make sure the External Drives option is checked.

Slydude said:

Also, with the Finder active got to the Finder Menu and choose Preferences. Click the General tab and make sure the External Drives option is checked.

Click to expand...

+1 rep for you, Slydude. I was going to suggest the same thing, when I read the OP's post.

Jakerich, How can i find this out? there's no mention on the HD's themselves. Slydude and Rottie, the External drives box is checked and still no joy.

Thanks for your help so far guys. anymore info would be appreciated

@Rottie Thanks for the rep bump.

@yoshizakura Your Mac should be able to read either FAT 32 or NTFS PC drives. Do you have a PC that you can connect the drives to in order to check the formatting to see if there has been any damage.

If you open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/) with the drives plugged in, do either of them show up on the left hand side?